Ceasefire brings calm back to Palestinian camp in Lebanon
Palestinian rivals at Lebanon’s largest refugee camp have agreed to stop fighting following a ceasefire agreement.
Calm returned to the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp near the southern Lebanese city of Sidon on Wednesday, following a ceasefire agreement between armed Palestinians there.
The Tuesday agreement reportedly put an end to street clashes that broke out late on Saturday in the camp, also home to Syrian refugees escaping a four-year crisis in the neighboring country.
"We reached an agreement on a ceasefire, after a series of consultations that included all of the factions," Major General Munir al-Maqdah, head of the Palestinian security forces in Lebanon, told AFP. "We felt that everyone was serious about getting the camp out of this cycle of instability, and it's a seriousness that we did not feel in previous clashes."
At least three people have been killed and dozens injured in the street fighting between armed men of the Jund al-Sham and the Fatah party.
Some 900 people are said to have fled the camp to seek refuge in a nearby mosque.
According to Maqdah, Palestinian security forces inside the camp are tasked with upholding the truce.
This has reportedly not brought about a strong incentive for those who have escaped the camp to return.
A Palestinian source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said "a large number of families are still afraid of returning."
"They feel that there is no guarantee that the clashes won't start again, especially since the past four months saw four rounds of clashes and assassination attempts against Fatah leaders," the source said.
The latest round of clashes began when gunmen reportedly belonging to the Jund al-Sham group attempted to gun down Ashraf al-Armoushi, the Fatah security chief, inside the camp on Saturday. He managed to escape unscathed.
Ain al-Hilweh is also home to other fighters and militants belonging to various armed groups.
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